Oakland's Carson Palmer (Santa Margarita High, USC) is among the veteran quarterbacks who could be on the move this offseason. BOB LEVERONE, AP

FANTASY PICKUP OF THE WEEK

QB Michael Vick, Eagles

If you're in a league that plays in Week 17 and Vick is still available, grab him. Consider it a holiday gift to yourself. The Eagles have a great matchup against the Giants, who have almost no shot at the playoffs and can't stop anybody anyway. Although he wasn't playing great before getting hurt, Vick still was on pace for about 4,000 passing yards, 600 rushing yards and 20 TD tosses.

The regular season that concludes Sunday has been, in some ways, unlike any before it.

We had replacement officials whose inexperience and ineptitude culminated in the "Fail Mary" at Seattle. We had New Orleans Saints coaches and players suspended because of an egregious bounty scandal. We had players being penalized for hits that didn't seem like penalties as recently as a few years ago. We had a team make the playoffs after losing 14 games last season and its coach for most of this one because of leukemia. We had a bunch of rookies do a bunch of amazing, unprecedented things.

But this truth remains as relevant as ever: The NFL is still a quarterback-driven league.

Look at the teams that have qualified for the playoffs: Every one has a quarterback it feels really good about.

Look at the past nine Super Bowl winners: Every one featured a top-level, "franchise" quarterback.

Look at the aforementioned playoff-bound team with the leukemia-stricken coach: Would Indianapolis have come close without precocious rookie QB Andrew Luck?

Luck isn't the only first-year passer who has had an undeniably profound impact on his franchise: Robert Griffin III has Washington on the brink of its first division title since 1999, and Russell Wilson has led Seattle to double-digit victories for the first time since 2007.

Every team lacking quality quarterback play wants what those organizations now have. As is invariably the case, several franchises head into the offseason looking to make changes at football's most important position.

Three teams don't have a choice: Arizona, Kansas City and the New York Jets. Seven more are strong possibilities: Buffalo, Cleveland, Jacksonville, Minnesota, Oakland, Philadelphia and Tennessee.

Add it all up, and that's almost one-third of the league. Coupled with the expected rash of coaching changes, it's going to be one wild offseason.

Unlike this past one, the draft does not promise a wealth of quarterback treasure. The top two prospects, at this point, are West Virginia's Geno Smith and USC's Matt Barkley. Some project both to slide out of the first round. Don't bet on that. Even if the supply is lacking, demand remains high. Expect at least two teams to use first-round picks to try to solve their passing-game problems.

That still leaves eight clubs seeking quarterback solutions. Second- and third-round investments are always a possibility – Cincinnati's Andy Dalton, San Francisco's Colin Kaepernick and Seattle's Wilson entered the league that way – but hardly a high-percentage one (not that there's such a thing when it comes to the inexact science of quarterback scouting).

More likely, we'll see a flurry of moves involving intriguing veteran quarterbacks on the free-agent and trade markets. The two biggest names with the deepest résumés are Michael Vick and Alex Smith. Both began this season as starters. Both are unlikely to be with their current clubs, the Eagles and 49ers, next season because of their contracts, among other issues.

"There will be a market for both those guys," one league executive said. "But I think you would bring them in to compete, not (be) given the starting job."

Whatever the case, it's a virtual certainty that Vick and Smith will be elsewhere next season and in the mix for starting assignments. No matter what Vick wants to call it, he's auditioning for possible future employers when he starts for injured rookie Nick Foles on Sunday.

Another mobile left-hander certain to be on the move in the offseason is Tim Tebow, who, according to reports, is a lock to land in his hometown of Jacksonville. Isn't that what should have happened in the first place?

Speaking of former Heisman Trophy winners, Oakland's Carson Palmer (Santa Margarita High, USC) also is a candidate for the transactions agate this offseason. The Raiders are in a rebuilding mode under first-year general manager Reggie McKenzie, who inherited Palmer, who turns 33 Thursday.

The league executive laid out a scenario whereby the Raiders part ways with Palmer, despite the salary-cap consequences, and acquire Matt Flynn, who's hopelessly buried on the Seahawks' depth chart behind Wilson. McKenzie was part of Green Bay's personnel department when the Packers drafted Flynn in 2008.

There was speculation last offseason that Flynn would accompany Joe Philbin to Miami. The Dolphins instead drafted Ryan Tannehill. But it's possible Smith and Norv Turner, who worked together in 2006, will be a package deal somewhere. Likewise Kirk Cousins and Kyle Shanahan of Washington, which almost certainly could acquire a pick in trade higher than the fourth-rounder it spent on Griffin's impressive understudy.

The potential story lines are endless and exciting. When it comes to quarterbacks, they always are.

THE ELITE eLEVen

(previous rank in parentheses)

1. Denver (2): The case for Peyton as MVP: Streaking Broncos, .500 in 2011, are now Super Bowl favorites.

2. Green Bay (5): Rodgers on verge of second consecutive passer-rating crown for team that's lost once since Oct. 7.

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